Opposition sources say US state department officials have been discreetly encouraging discussion of the unpublished draft document, which circulated at an unprecedented opposition conference held on Monday in Damascus. But Washington denies backing it.

• Under the roadmap Assad would oversee "a secure and peaceful transition to civil democracy". It calls for tighter control over the security forces, the disbanding of "shabiha" gangs accused of atrocities, the legal right to peaceful demonstrations, extensive media freedoms, and the appointment of a transitional assembly.

• Opposition dissidents have dismissed the roadmap. Radwan Ziadeh, a leading exile, said: "They are asking Bashar to lead the transition and this is not acceptable to the protesters. It is too late." Leading dissident Ammar Abdulhamid summed up what he felt about the plan in headline to his latest blogpost. "Shove it!", he said.

Approving any plan that keeps Assad in power for any length of time serves only to delay the inevitable while stoking the fires of anti-Americanism and conspiratorial thinking in the ranks of the protesters. It also undermines the repeated calls for keeping the protest movement peaceful as sentiments get more radicalized and people feel ignored, marginalized and betrayed, albeit protest leaders have shown remarkable resolve and restraint in the face of increasing pressures...

The Assads are working on a multi-track strategy as always: while one brother negotiates and prepares the ground for a new political arrangement designed to lend him greater legitimacy, the other represses and plans for an even larger bloodier crackdown for when the right moment comes. The slow-burn scenario, if allowed to unfold unchallenged, would more likely apply to the revolution rather than the regime.

Their success has stemmed from an ability to stay decentralized, work in secret and fashion their message in the most nationalist of terms. But that very success has made them a mystery to the Syrian government, which prefers to work with more recognized opposition figures who came together in a rare meeting in Damascus on Monday. American officials admit they are also trying to gauge the young protesters' importance in a time of tumult.

A Syrian denouement may not yet be imminent but the regime is tottering. The extraordinary endurance of demonstrators week after week is paying off. Patience has been the key to many challenges to the ancient thrones of Damascus.

Speaking to reporters Clinton said: "Given the changing political landscape in Egypt…it is in the interests of the United States to engage with all parties that are peaceful, and committed to nonviolence, that intend to compete for the parliament and the presidency."

The process of drafting of the constitution was controlled by King Muhammad VI who had the final say over what was included, Kafka complains. He says the document was poorly drafted and full of anomalies. Under the proposals the king doesn't have the power to sack the prime minister, but he can sack ministers.

"It should have gone much further, it should have been better drafted, to me it is a missed opportunity," Kafka said.

He dismissed comparison of the draft constitution with Spain's constitutional monarchy as "ludicrous propaganda".

Kafka also cast doubt on the referendum, claiming there was a risk that the voting would be rigged. Moroccans are fed up with corruption, miscarriages of justice and the lack of economic and social equality, he said.

Amnesty welcomed the setting up of an independent commission to investigate human rights abuses and the ending of military tribunals as "landmark" moves.

Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa programme director Malcolm Smart said:

Until now, the government has signally failed to rein in its security forces, investigate torture allegations and ensure accountability, while using special military courts to prosecute its critics. This now appears to be changing, and not a day too soon.

But as Amnesty issued the statement last night news emerged that a protest demanding the release of activists given life sentences for their part in the unrest was being forcefully dispersed.

8.58am: Médecins Sans Frontières has appealed for a stronger humanitarian response for those fleeing the conflict in Libya.

In a new report it says 600,000 migrant workers have left Libya since the start of the conflict, and yet they are the "hidden victims" of the conflict and many have being forced back into the danger zone.

Mike Bates, MSF's head of mission in Tunisia said:

As they have no prospects in sight, dozens have gone back to Libya in the past days, ready to risk their lives again in a desperate search for a future. This is an extremely worrying situation.

Ali-Mohsen, who defected from Saleh in March, helped his former ally defeat Socialist opponents in the 1990s and more recently Houthi rebels in the north.

The Yemen Times describes Karman as a "a leading member of Yemen's popular revolution" whose "arrest, and subsequent release in late January 2011 helped inflame the popular revolution in Yemen. She has consistently campaigned with the aim of putting an end to injustice, corruption and inequality."

9.48am: The Foreign Office has confirmed that a British man was arrested in Tuesday's unrest in the Egyptian capital Cairo. The man has since been released, a spokeswoman said. She would not disclose his name.

Today she upped the rhetoric further, but still stopped short of calling for Assad to go.

Reuters quoted her saying:

They must begin a genuine transition to democracy and allowing one meeting of the opposition in Damascus is not sufficient action toward achieving that goal.

So I am disheartened by the recent reports of continued violence on the borders and in Aleppo, where demonstrators have been beaten, attacked with knives by government-organised groups and security forces.

It is absolutely clear that the Syrian government is running out of time. They are either going to allow a serious political process that will include peaceful protests to take place throughout Syria and engage in a productive dialogue with members of the opposition and civil society, or they're going to continue to see increasingly organized resistance.

We regret the loss of life and we regret the violence, but this choice is up to the Syrian government. And, right now, we're looking for action not words and we haven't seen enough of that.

Protesters hold up anti-regime banners written in English. "Hear the voice of the people, get out now," one reads. Another describes the government as a "killer regime". To help verify the video protesters also show messages with today's date written on them.

Reuters says tens of thousands of people have come out to protest across Syria. It also reports claims by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that three people were killed overnight in villages in the northern Idlib province. That raised the death toll to at least 14 villagers in the last two days, it said.

12.24pm: The Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is backing the Assad regime in Syria. He said it was "unacceptable" of the Syrian opposition to refuse to take part in a national dialogue with the regime.

Saif also claimed that fighting would go on even if his father was killed.

What they don't understand is that the fighting will not stop if my father goes. Libyans will continue fighting until one day the country will be back to the Libyans.

At the end of the interview Saif accused Nato and the rebels of regarding the Libya as a fast food outlet. "They want to finish as soon as possible because they are hungry and tired... for them Libya is like fast food, like McDonalds, fast, fast victory... but we are patient. One day we will win."

• Tens of thousands of people have taken part in anti-government protests across Syria, as activists reject a proposed "roadmap" for reform that would allow President Assad to remain in power. The are confirmed accounts of protests in Syria's biggest cities Damascus and Aleppo. Russia condemned the opposition for refusing to take part in a dialogue with the government.

• Hillary Clinton said Syria is running out of time to reform as she condemned the regime's "staggering violence". She also spoke of her concern about clashes yesterday in the northern city of Aleppo.

• Saif Gaddafi claimed that fighting would go on in Libya if his father was killed. In an interview with Russian TV he denied ordering the killing of civilians. French foreign minister Alain Juppe insisted that arming Libyan rebels does not breach UN security council resolutions.

• Polling has opened in Morocco in a referendum on a new draft constitution. Opposition activists have called for a boycott of the poll.

• More huge anti-government rallies have take place in Yemen as uncertainty continues about the health of President Saleh.

1.46pm: A British-based Syrian activist Amjad Baiazy has been freed after spending seven weeks in prison, friends campaigning for his release have said.

Activists claim 200,000 people have rallied in a square in the city. The Syrian Army left the town almost three weeks ago, residents claim.

The purple sign on the column reads: "Long live a free Syria. Fall down Bashar." (Thanks to Mona Mahmood for the translation). You can also hear familiar chants of "the people demand the fall of the regime", which by now don't need translation.

_

2.57pm: The Syrian activist group LCCS claims many people were injured when the police opened fire on protesters in the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

Omar Idilbi, a spokesman for the Local Coordination Committees, which track the protests in Syria. Idilbi said security forces killed at least three people in another central city, Homs, after opening fire.

In separate clashes, three people were killed during a military operation seeking to choke off the flow of refugees heading across the border to Turkey, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Because of the ongoing mass propaganda, there is no doubt that the outcome of the referendum will be "yes". But the government also needs to persuade large numbers of Moroccans to vote. If the participation rate is below 80%, the monarchy's motto of "unanimous popular support" will become harder to assert.

4.06pm: Try cutting your first CD in Misrata, with the city under siege and missiles crashing down around you, in a studio that is no more than a bombproof room and a laptop which only works between long power cuts, writes Chris Stephen.

That was how FB 17 – named for 17 February, the day rebellion broke out in Libya – recorded No More Lies, an album of five tracks which has become a hit across this besieged city.

• Syria witnessed the biggest protests today after 16 weeks of unrest, footage from the demonstrations suggested. Activists said hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the central city of Hama, and there were reports of protests across the country. At least 12 people died when the security forces crackdown on the protests, as citizen journalists continued to record the violent crackdown.

• Syrian Activists have rejected a proposed "roadmap" for reform that would allow President Assad to remain in power. Russia condemned the opposition for refusing to take part in a dialogue with the government. The British-based activist Amjad Baiazy has been released seven weeks after being arrested in Damascus.

• Hillary Clinton said Syria is running out of time to reform as she condemned the regime's "staggering violence". She also spoke of her concern about clashes yesterday in the northern city of Aleppo.

• Saif Gaddafi claimed that fighting would go on in Libya if his father was killed. In an interview with Russian TV he denied ordering the killing of civilians. French foreign minister Alain Juppe insisted that arming Libyan rebels does not breach UN security council resolutions.

• Early turnout was reported to have been low in a vote in Morocco on a referendum for a new draft constitution. Opposition activists have called for a boycott of the poll.

• More huge anti-government rallies have take place in Yemen as uncertainty continues about the health of President Saleh.

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